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A Fort Worth officer suffered a broken leg Tuesday night when he was hit by a vehicle.

The officer was out of his patrol car on eastbound Interstate 30 near Henderson Street removing a sofa from the traffic lanes when he was struck, said Cpl. Tracey Knight.

The driver, who was with his wife and young child, pulled over and tried to help the officers, our partners at KXAS-TV (NBC5) report. The crash remains under investigation, but no charges were expected.

The officer was taken to Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in stable condition with a leg injury.

Dr. Kent Brantly (left) treated Ebola patients in the isolation ward of a Liberia hospital until he recognized symptoms of the virus in himself.

The Fort Worth doctor infected with Ebola and transported to the U.S. Saturday for treatment seems to be getting better, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this morning on Face the Nation.

“It’s encouraging that he [Kent Brantly] seems to be improving,” Dr. Tom Frieden said. “That’s really important. And we’re hoping he’ll continue to improve. But Ebola is such a scary disease because it’s so deadly.”

Brantly contracted the disease in Liberia while working for the aid organization Samaritan’s Purse. For more details on his return to the U.S., see DMN staff writer Seema Yasmin’s story in today’s paper.

Frieden declined to speculate about Brantly’s chances of survival. In some outbreaks, the fatality rate for Ebola can be as high as 90 percent. The death rate is about 60 percent for the current African outbreak, which has killed at least 729.

Brantly, 33, a family physician and father of two, traveled in October to Monrovia, Liberia, with an international relief agency, Samaritan’s Purse, and began treating Ebola patients in June. He served a residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.

Last week, Brantly recognized his own symptoms, immediately isolated himself and told team members.

He is undergoing treatment in isolation. The Ebola virus, which kills 90 percent of its victims, does not have a cure.

In a statement posted to the Samaritan’s Purse website, his wife Amber Brantly said she and her family “appreciate so much all the words of comfort and acts of kindness.”

“As people with a deep faith in Jesus, we sincerely thank the thousands of people worldwide who have lifted up Kent and this dreadful situation in prayer,” she wrote. “We continue to lean on that faith and take great consolation in our God in these times.”

Amber Brantly is in the U.S. with her children and asked for prayers and privacy. She said she and her family “continue to believe that God will deliver Kent from this deadly virus.”

We appreciate so much all the words of comfort and acts of kindness extended to our family.

As people with a deep faith in Jesus, we sincerely thank the thousands of people worldwide who have lifted up Kent and this dreadful situation in prayer. We continue to lean on that faith and take great consolation in our God in these times.

Amber and their two children are staying in an undisclosed location to protect their privacy. We continue to believe that God will deliver Kent from this deadly virus.

We have a strong family unit within a stronger faith community that has given us incredible support. Kent remains very physically weak but his spirit has been determined throughout this ordeal.

This is a challenging time for our family. We will not be speaking to the media at this time. We ask that you respect our privacy.

We ask for your continued prayers for Kent, his colleague, Nancy Writebol, and the healthcare workers in Liberia struggling to meet the overwhelming demands of those who are sick with the Ebola virus as well as patients who have come to that hospital with other needs.

Police arrested Mark Anthony Pacheco, 30, on Friday in connection with the Feb. 16 shooting death of Sylvia Salazar at North Side Outlaws bar near the Fort Worth Stockyards. (KXAS-Channel 5)

Fort Worth police arrested a suspect Friday in last month’s shooting death of 56-year-old Sylvia Salazar at a bar near the Stockyards.

Police said Mark Anthony Pacheco, 30, was taken into custody on a felony murder warrant at a relative’s home without incident. He was also shot, police said, in the Feb. 16 gunfight that broke out inside North Side Outlaws bar at 115 NW 25th St.

Pioneer Natural Resources is the presenting sponsor of Habitat for Humanity’s 31st annual Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project and donated the seven-figure gift. The 39th president and his wife will work alongside volunteers in October in the two cities.

As part of the project, volunteers will build 20 new homes in East Oak Cliff near the Veterans Affairs Hospital and repair 20 existing homes. They will also build 15 new homes in the Central Meadowbrook neighborhood in Fort Worth and paint 50 existing homes. The project was announced at a press conference Friday morning at Dallas City Hall.

“Housing is a core component of the Grow South initiative,” said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. “This will make Lancaster Corridor grow faster.”

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said the project in Fort Worth will offer hope to the families who could use change in the communities they live in.

“The dream of home ownership can go so far and help people take pride in where they’re from,” she said.

The medical examiner has ruled 2-year-old Anthony Segora’s death a homicide.

Antony died from blunt force trauma of the abdomen, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead about 11:35 p.m. in the living room of his mother’s apartment on Whittlesey Road.

The boy was being cared for by his mother’s boyfriend when he was found. Police took the unidentified man into custody on an unrelated warrant, police told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. But no charges have been announced related to the boy’s death.

Police initially reported Anthony was 3 years old, but the medical examiner lists his age as 2.

Original entry (posted at 11 p.m. Feb. 2):

Fort Worth police are investigating the weekend death of a 2-year-old boy.

The boy was found unresponsive at an apartment on Whittlesey Road near Interstate 820 about 11:30 p.m. Saturday, police spokeswoman Sharron Neal said.

Police said the boy’s mother was at work, and her boyfriend was babysitting. The boyfriend called for MedStar when the child was unresponsive.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has not released a cause of death.

Though the earthy-smelling water coming from the taps in Tarrant County tastes unpleasant, it is safe for use, say Fort Worth and Arlington water utilities.

Last week, the Tarrant Regional Water District switched the water supply for the treatment plants to Lake Benbrook because of maintenance to a pipeline. There was also a break in the line from line from Cedar Creek Lake, according to the utilities.

Lake Benbrook is experiencing a high amount of algae activity, according to the water district. Its data shows that there's a higher amount of geosmin, thanks to the colder temperatures killing off algae in surface water, which releases the smelly bacteria-produced compound.

Utilities have increased the dosage of ozone at treatment plants to disinfect water in an attempt to resolve taste and odor issues. The city utilities suggest refrigerating the tap water in an open container or adding a little lemon or lime to it.

Update, 9:45 a.m.: The boy missing since Sunday was found Tuesday and safe at a friend’s house, reports NBC5.

Original post: Fort Worth police are asking the public for help in finding a missing 11-year-old boy, Derrick Dewayne Skelton.

Derrick was last seen Sunday around 6 p.m. 2700 block of Belzise Terrace in southeast Fort Worth, police said. He has black hair in braids, and brown eyes. He is 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 180 pounds.

He was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and black and gray boots.

Anyone with information about Derrick should call Fort Worth police at 817-335-4222.

The NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center issued its winter forecast Thursday, and to the surprise of no one in North Texas, the state of the weather over the next three months is a very tough call.
“It’s a tough one because in the short term, we’ll see more wetness in East Texas. But going back a few years, you’ve been in these repeated droughts,” said David Miskus, a meteorologist at the Climate Prediction Center. “The short-term forecast has odds for above-normal precipitation for the next two weeks. But with no El Nino, the one- and three-month outlooks are kind of relying on statistical and numerical models.”
What does that mean for the North Texas drought?
“You’re right on the edge of persistence or removal,” Miskus said.
The latest Drought Monitor puts most of the Dallas area in either moderate or severe drought, with counties farther east rated “abnormally dry.”
“It won’t take much rain to get out of [moderate drought],” Miskus said. “But with lingering drought, the odds of getting back to moderate drought this winter are pretty good.”
Most of the computer models also predict a warmer-than-normal winter for the region.
“You’re right there at the crossroads, with some short-term improvements,” Miskus said.
“So hope you see a lot of rain in the short term, because the long-term forecast doesn’t look as promising.”